Dreaming Darkness
by Edmelon
Summary: He remembered when Ur used to drive his demons away for him. One-shot.


A scream rang throughout the dark cabin in the dead of night, shuddering the very walls of the boy's bedroom and drowning out the soft snoring from the room next door.

Gray had no idea what had happened. One minute he'd been peacefully dozing off into the wonderful, tranquil world of sleep

But the air of calm and peace had been just an illusion to mask the fire and the crushing of buildings and the terrified, gut-wrenching _screams _of injured and bleeding civilians, huddled in fear and trapped, hopeless, as the demon ploughed through the town at an oddly leisurely pace. It brought down huge, solid feet on their homes and shattered their town as if it were nothing more than a stack of mere building blocks – just like the ones that Gray used to own before that fated day when he lost all that ever mattered to him. The innocently childish dreams had long been forced away as the demon plagued his mind (because whilst he was asleep and his guard was down that was the best time for the monster to attack) and, like all illusions, they hadn't lasted very long.

The terrified boy sat up in bed, panting heavily and sweating profusely. His eyes stung as the tears fell freely and his throat was dry and hoarse as he croaked out his cries.

"_MA-MAMA? PAPA?"_

From the next room there was a rustling and the bang of a door. Hurried footsteps pattered along the floorboards, but the boy was far too caught up in his own nightmares to hear them. He looked around and took in his surroundings – the bookshelf, the clock softly ticking, fluffy blankets, the snow falling outside and the still and serene surroundings free from rampaging beasts and ravaged bodies – and he couldn't quite recall how exactly he had come to be here, for all he could remember now was all that had occurred on that most awful day of his life.

"_MAMA!"_

When Ur came in Gray was near hyperventilating. She almost stopped, taken aback when she saw the extent of his distress and when those eyes – wide and full of fear – snapped onto her figure. He looked as bad as the day she'd found him and something broke inside of her as she remembered that poor, bruised little boy she'd found all alone in the ruins of that old town.

Ur found it best to say nothing to him yet, but she was quick to stride over to the bed and sit beside him, placing her hands on his shoulders and forcing him to look her in the eye.

"Gray," she said firmly, yet calmly; "Gray you're alright. Calm down, little guy, you're fine."

Something seemed to register in Gray's mind and he now quite vividly recalled the events of the past year or so as his brain woke up and his memories returned from where they had been buried under old terrors. He remembered that he was here; he was _not _back in his old home town and he was _not _back in the wreckage that Deliora left behind after so easily reducing his home to dust, he was living with Ur and her pupil, Lyon, and she was teaching him the trick to Ice Make magic so that he could be strong again and seek out that demon with a vengeance. But, most of all, he remembered that he felt alone. He was living with Ur and Lyon, but deep down he knew that he had no one else – he was an orphan and he would never see his parents again in this lifetime. They had been taken from him and, with them, a piece of him.

The panic had faded now that Gray looked up at his Teacher, who looked at him with more sympathy now, and for a moment he decided to throw away his pride and all that boyish attitude he so liked to display. Ur smiled at him so friendlily and the tears fell again.

"_U-Ur..!"_

They weren't so much tears of fear anymore, but sorrow. So, so sorrowful and heart-wrenching that Ur just wrapped her arms around him and rubbed his back so tenderly that for a moment he was transported back to those times when he was young and his mother used to fuss over him like he was still an infant. But that just made the pain of his loss far greater and he let himself howl whilst his Teacher calmed him down in that gentle, warm way of hers and, God, did it give him such nostalgia. He briefly wondered if all women were really this motherly or if Ur just had a gift, but it didn't matter as his thoughts soon returned to his parents and Deliora and he continued to hiccup away whilst his Teacher hugged him and tried to silence his mourning. He didn't understand how Lyon hadn't woken up yet – the boy slept like a rock – but in all honesty he didn't care. All he cared about was the soft words of his Teacher and the way she rocked him and the horror images that flashed through his drowsy mind until he could bear it no more and whimpered pathetically again. Ur hushed him and placed a hand behind his head as if he were a baby, letting him press his face into her shoulder.

Gray was grateful of his Teacher – truly, he was, but his respect for her would only grow when she demonstrated such care and concern as this. Gray welcomed it. He buried his face into the comforting fabric of her robe and tried to breathe and focus on the sense of affection that she showed for him. He felt her arms on his back; her hands caressing his hair so soothingly and he revelled in the feeling of security that only she could now provide because after such devastation and miseries and loneliness he had thought he'd never feel so safe and cared for ever again. He'd seen children in the streets walking happily with their parents and their families and he's seen the way the adults guarded and protected them – how they went out of their way to ensure the safety of their little ones – and it had pained him to know that his own personal protection had been cruelly taken away from him. Oh, how wrong he felt now that he was tightly wrapped in the embrace of his Teacher.

"God, child," he heard Ur say quietly after a little while; "you'll cry yourself sick…"

"D-Do-" he choked; "I don't _care!"_

And Ur laughed fondly because that mouthy little apprentice of hers was apparently getting some of his bite back and she predicted it would only be a few more minutes until his ego returned and he would push her away with as much dignity as he could try to muster – a hilarious thing to witness in a kid so young, she found.

"Now, now," she whispered and decided to try and aid his recovery; "I didn't pick you up and take you on just so you could whine at me, Gray. Swallow those tears and get a hold of yourself else your training's two hours earlier from now."

"_Shut up, old hag!" _he felt irritation bite away inside, but he was glad to find the tears flow more slowly now and exhaustion had swept over him – a sign that soon he would be able to cry no more and would have let out all his sadness for tonight.

Ur laughed a bit louder whereas in any other situation she'd have smacked him behind the head and pulled his ear, but she didn't say anything.

It took time, but after his sobs had finally ceased and she'd carefully continued to rock him some more (she was sure he'd have hated it, but in his sorry state he'd just clung tighter and she guessed it was a gesture he must have been familiar with and fond of) the ice mage was relieved to see the boy fiercely wipe away his tears and take breaths more deeply and regularly. As if to make sure that his recovery was quite finished, she released him (he didn't cling, so he must have felt safer again) leant over to the bedside table and yanked a tissue from the box to the side. She leant forward and, in the most jokingly patronising tone she could manage, said; "Now you wanna wipe all that away and give Ur a kiss goodnight?"

"_Agh-!" _Gray spluttered against the tissue, waving his hands to shoo her away. "Teacher!"

Her throaty chuckle was strangely reassuring to his ears. Gray watched as she abandoned the thing next to him, pulled up the blankets that he only just now realised he'd kicked away during his night terrors and ruffled his dark hair affectionately.

"You okay now, kid?"

Gray thought for a second. He glanced around the room and saw that the room was still familiar and the air still peaceful and the dark no longer a frightening, creepy place for demons to lurk, but rather a welcome hiding place to shield him from the monsters and malevolent creatures that may have prowled across the snow outside that night. It encircled both him and his Teacher and ensured that he would never be cast adrift alone again, providing sanctuary and defence. After only a moment's thought he nodded silently. Ur smiled and nodded as if to confirm it further. She smoothed the wrinkles from her now sodden robe and wandered towards the door.

"Night, Gray."

"Night, Ur."

She pulled the door to – leaving a little crack to let the hall light in like she knew he preferred – and padded down the corridor towards her own room and left Gray to himself. Her shadow briefly flickered over the wall and was gone. The boy breathed deeply and settled down into the warmth of his bed.

It was crazy, he thought; how he could go from then to now and back again all so quickly; how he could in a second be transported back to the darker days and then suddenly find himself back in the comfort of Ur's home. His life was a blurred mess of the light and dark and it frustrated him to know that he would probably live in the shadow of the mess Deliora had created for the rest of his days. The monster clung to him, drew him close like a moth to candlelight – it would remain within his consciousness forever and he would always carry the emotional scars of his encounter even if he _did _manage to take the beast down himself. He sighed because he didn't want to live like that, but, ultimately, it was never his choice. Besides, self-pity would get him nowhere.

His mind drifted back to the woman that had probably already fallen asleep in her own room. She was a tough teacher and a strict woman, but she held him and soothed him quite unlike anything he'd imagined she would. The first night Gray had woken screaming and calling out in distress, he thought she would have been annoyed by his pathetic whining. But instead she relaxed him and tried to help and ease his pain with all the sincerity and the tenderness he would expect from his own mother.

Ur was good at scaring away the demons that still haunted his mind, Gray mused as he once more began to drift, exhausted and drained from all the energy he had put into his tears. Perhaps it was just the child-like craving for his own dear dead parents, he had thought, but did it really matter? She knew he was hurting and she took it upon herself to try and heal his wounds. She treated him like a son and, really, who else would?

His tether to reality loosening by the second, Gray lay back and tried to focus on the more pleasant memories of his past, hoping to dream of something more welcoming and warm now that his nightmares were out the way for the night. Though, it had to be said, he didn't know if he'd cope without her there to comfort him. He didn't know if he could chase away the darkness by himself.

He hoped she'd always be there to guard him against the demons for him.


End file.
